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Student accuses Paine College of negligence in sexual attacks

A Paine College student raped in March in a dorm filed suit against the private college Monday.

The Richmond County State Court lawsuit was filed on behalf of “Jane Doe” seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

The 22-year-old woman was a full-time student living in Graham Hall, an all-female dorm, on March 7 when she was attacked in a restroom.

Jarius R. Dantzler, 19, was arrested in connection with that assault and two others, including a Nov. 18 attempted rape of a Paine student living in Graham Hall.

According to the lawsuit, the victim of the March assault alleges that Paine assured students they would be safe on campus and that campus security officers were on duty 24 hours a day. The college was obligated to ensure the security was provided, the lawsuit contends.

The student alleges negligence in the college’s duty to provide adequate security and for not informing students of the earlier attempted sexual assault. It alleges further negligence in the school’s failure to warn students of the danger posed by inadequate security doors, especially after the November incident.

The lawsuit contends school officials failed to take any preventive actions to ensure students’ safety after the November assault.

Dantzler has been indicted on charges of rape and obstruction of an officer in the March 7 assault, and he has been indicted on charges of burglary and attempted rape in the November assault. Dantzler faces additional charges of armed robbery, burglary, possession of a knife during the commission of a crime, and cruelty to children in a Feb. 16 attack on a neighbor.

The victim of the November assault told investigators she was asleep when a man crawled into her bed with his pants down. He tried unsuccessfully to cover her face and ran away when the student fought back, according to the indictment.

In the Feb. 16 assault, Dantzler is accused of breaking into the Belmont Avenue home of a woman sleeping next to her child. The assailant crawled into bed with the woman and choked and beat her in front of her child before leaving with her purse.